In February Health Secretary Alan Johnson pledged an extra £14m for health authorities that want to add fluoride to their water supplies to boost dental health and the Prime Minister said he had "seen the benefits of fluoridation".

Dr Lucas has demanded the proposals to add the chemical to Southampton's water be dropped.She said: "Water fluoridation has simply not been proven to be effective for teeth, particularly when the bad effects of dental fluorosis are taken into account.

If the government would like to give us better dental health they should be focusing on dentistry but instead 800,000 fewer people have access to NHS dentists.

Putting dangerous medication into the water supply is not the answer. The answer is to actually invest in dental health and give more people access to an NHS dentist.